Jorge Campos

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JORGE CAMPOS - PAGE 5

Not a bad opening act. Playing its first game in Major League Soccer, the Fire knocked off the fellow expansion Miami Fusion 2-0 before 14,653 Saturday night at Lockhart Stadium. Roman Kosecki, in the United States only about 48 hours, scored the first goal in the history of the franchise when he pounced on a rebound in the 76th minute. But the game may have turned 23 minutes earlier, when Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton stopped a penalty kick by Miami's Carlos Valderrama to keep it scoreless.

Love fest: Eager to see Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan together again? Join the club! The two skaters will appear together, for the first time since the '94 Olympics, on a two-hour Fox special at 7 p.m. Central Time Thursday. Don't expect hugs and kisses (maybe thugs and hisses?). We're sure Kerrigan is still emotionally smarting from that whack to the knee she got at the hands of some Harding associates, so expect a slight chill. But hey, they're getting paid more than $100,000 each, so who needs bonding moments?

Until the final 20 seconds, it seemed as though the most excitement of the night Saturday would be the brief confrontation between the Fire's C.J. Brown and Kansas City's Mo Johnston. They squared off in the 64th minute and almost came to blows before Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton intervened. Brown and Johnston were shown red cards by referee Sandra Hunt and sent to the locker rooms. But the true excitement picked up in the final minute as the Fire scrambled for a tying goal.

The curious trend of the Fire, losing in MLS play and winning in U.S. Open Cup matches continued Tuesday in New Orleans as the Fire reached the Cup final with a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Burn. The Fire will face the Columbus Crew, 1-0 winners over the MetroStars in the other semifinal, in the Aug. 26 final at Virginia Beach. The victory was another costly one. Forward Ante Razov, who scored the first goal for the Fire, was carried off on a stretcher late in the first half with an ankle injury.

According to a source close to the negotiations, Mexican soccer legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco is expected to arrive in Chicago early this week to sign a contract to play for the Fire. The Club America veteran will be the third player signed under Major League Soccer's new designated-player rule, in which only $400,000 of the player's contract counts toward the league's salary cap. David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) and Claudio Reyna (Red Bull New York) are the others. The signing of the 34-year-old forward will be the Fire's biggest acquisition since it landed Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos in 1998, its inaugural season.

Butch Carter, interim coach of the Toronto Raptors for the final two months of the NBA season, has been named the team's full-time coach. Carter has a two-year contract, and the team will have an option for the 2000-2001 season. Financial terms were not announced. Carter, who became interim coach Feb. 13 after Darrell Walker resigned, guided Toronto to a 5-28 record. The Raptors went 16-66. Golf: Donna Andrews survived a double-bogey, a double hit and a 2 1/2-hour rain delay to shoot a 4-under 68, good for a 12-under 132 and a two-stroke lead over Lisa Walters through two rounds of the LPGA Oldsmobile Classic in East Lansing, Mich.

With his Major League Soccer career in limbo, Mexico's flashy goalkeeper Jorge Campos will likely play his only match in the United States on Wednesday when Mexico faces Argentina in an exhibition at Soldier Field. Campos, who spent two years with the Los Angeles Galaxy before joining the Fire for a portion of last season, is scheduled to meet Wednesday with MLS Commissioner Doug Logan to discuss his future with the league. Campos left the Fire before the playoffs last season when it became clear he would not beat out Zach Thornton for a starting spot.

After months of qualification and preliminary-round play, the European Champions League finally became worthy of its name last week. The top 16 club teams on the continent began the second phase of group play Tuesday and Wednesday with the favorites coming through unscathed except for one--defending champion Manchester United. Manchester suffered a 2-0 loss to Fiorentina in Florence, Italy. Gabriel Batistuta and Abel Balbo had the goals for Fiorentina to leave United at the bottom of Group B after the first round.

Sometimes a good heart-to-heart is all that's needed. Earlier in the week, Fire coach Bob Bradley sat down with forward Jerzy Podbrozny and talked. Well, Bradley talked to a translator, who helped bridge the English-Polish language barrier between coach and player. "We had a good chance to talk for a couple of hours," said Bradley. "It's difficult to rely on the players all the time." Now that Podbrozny is starting to feel more comfortable, Bradley and Podbrozny expect more games like Saturday's.